Alloy Orchestra accompanies three silent films

The late Roger Ebert called the Alloy Orchestra “the best in the world at accompanying silent films.” On September 28 and 29, this internationally known three-member band from Boston will come to the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque to play for three different silent classics: Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS and two Lon Chaney movies, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and HE WHO GETS SLAPPED.

METROPOLIS, which will show on Saturday, September 28 at 8:00pm, is the movie that made the Alloy Orchestra famous. It remains their most popular score. This 1927 German sci-fi spectacular—about a gleaming futuristic city where the wealthy lead lives of luxury above ground while worker drones toil on machinery underground (until a robot gets them to revolt)—is the perfect vehicle for the Alloy sound, a distinctive mix of clarinet, accordion, electronics, and junk metal percussion. Though the band has accompanied METROPOLIS at the Cinematheque a few times over the years, the September 28 performance will be the East Side Cleveland premiere of their score to the complete METROPOLIS, a 2010 restoration of the movie that is 25 minutes (and 25%) longer than the longest previous cut.

On Sunday, September 29, the Alloy members will accompany two films that they have never before played for in Cleveland, both of them starring “the man of a thousand faces” Lon Chaney. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Rupert Julian’s 1925 romantic horror classic that inspired the hit stage musical, features another of the band’s most popular scores. It shows at 4:00pm in a color-tinted 35mm print.

Then at 7:00pm (for a separate admission), the band premieres its latest score, for the 1924 American drama HE WHO GETS SLAPPED directed by Victor Sjöstrom. (Sjöstrom, a Swede, also directed THE WIND and was the star of Ingmar Bergman’s WILD STRAWBERRIES). HE WHO GETS SLAPPED, which will be seen in a new digital restoration from the George Eastman House film archive, tells of a wounded man who becomes a sad circus clown who relishes public humiliation. Earlier this month the Alloy presented this powerful, poignant psychodrama at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado.

Ticket prices to these three Alloy Orchestra performances vary. Admission to METROPOLIS is $20; Cinematheque members and CIA I.D. holders $15; age 25 & under $12. Admission to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is $15; Cinematheque members and CIA I.D. holders $12; age 25 & under $10. And admission to HE WHO GETS SLAPPED is $15; Cinematheque members and CIA I.D. holders $12; age 25 & under (and those who paid to see PHANTOM at 4 pm) $8. No passes, radio winners, or twofers will be accepted for any of these shows. $20 and $15 advance tickets to METROPOLIS can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/449747. $15 and $12 advance tickets to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/455267, as can tickets to both Lon Chaney films on 9/29. Tickets for those 25 & under for all shows will be sold only at the door, if seats remain. Tickets for HE WHO GETS SLAPPED by itself can also be purchased only at the door. Door sales are cash/check only.

All films will show in the Aitken Auditorium of the Cleveland Institute of Art, 11141 East Boulevard in University Circle. Free parking for filmgoers is available in the adjacent CIA lot, located off of East Boulevard. For further information, call John Ewing or Tim Harry at 216.421.7450, send an email to cinema@cia.edu, or visit www.cia.edu/cinematheque.

Film schedule

Saturday, September 28, at 8:00pmThe Alloy Orchestra accompaniesMETROPOLISGermany, 1927, Fritz LangRoger Ebert called Boston’s Alloy Orchestra “the best in the world at accompanying silent films.” Tonight this internationally known trio—Terry Donahue, Roger Miller (Mission of Burma), Ken Winokur—perform their signature score for Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi spectacle Metropolis. Though the band has accompanied Metropolis at the Cinematheque before, tonight (for the first time on Cleveland’s East Side) they will lend their distinctive mix of clarinet, accordion, electronics, and junk metal percussion to the 2010 restoration of Lang’s futuristic epic, 25 minutes (and 25%) longer than all previous restored versions. Finally Lang’s exciting and visually stunning tale—set in a gleaming futuristic city where the wealthy lead lives of luxury above ground while worker drones toil on machinery underground, and where a robot-led revolt threatens both classes—makes total sense! Unmissable! Blu-ray. 150 min. Special admission $20; Cinematheque members and CIA I.D. holders $15; age 25 & under $12; no passes, twofers, or radio winners and no second-film discount tonight. Advance $20 & $15 tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/449747. Door sales are cash/check only.

Sunday, September 29, at 4:00pmThe Alloy Orchestra accompaniesTHE PHANTOM OF THE OPERAUSA, 1925, Rupert JulianThis afternoon Boston’s Alloy Orchestra presents the Cleveland premiere of their original score for the Lon Chaney silent horror classic that spawned numerous remakes and the hit Broadway musical. This tale of a mysterious masked man (Chaney) who lives in the bowels of the Paris Opera House will be seen in a gorgeous new color-tinted print that also restores the original two-strip Technicolor of the masquerade ball sequence. 35mm. 78 min. Special admission $15; Cinematheque members and CIA I.D. holders $12; age 25 & under $10; no passes, twofers, or radio winners. Advance $15 & $12 tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/455267. Door sales are cash/check only.

Sunday, September 29, at 7:00pmThe Alloy Orchestra accompaniesHE WHO GETS SLAPPEDUSA, 1924, Victor SjöstromThe latest score by the Alloy Orchestra, premiered at this year's Telluride Film Festival, accompanies a little-known but sensational silent melodrama made in Hollywood by the great Swedish director Victor Sjöstrom (The Wind, The Phantom Chariot). Lon Chaney (see previous blurb), the "Man of a Thousand Faces," plays a brilliant scientist who loses both his groundbreaking research and his wife to a dishonest man. Wounded, he joins the circus and becomes a sad clown who wears his heart on his sleeve and suffers repeated humiliation and abuse—to the delight of hundreds of spectators. This piercing, Pagliacci-style fable, shown in a restored version from the George Eastman House, may have inspired Sternberg's The Blue Angel and Bergman's The Naked Night/Sawdust and Tinsel. With Norma Shearer and John Gilbert. Blu-ray. Approx. 80 min. Special admission $15; Cinematheque members and CIA I.D. holders $12; age 25 & under (and those who paid to see Phantom at 4 pm) $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.